LVMH’s watch and jewelry segment sales slip in first half

Sales of watches and jewelry were essentially flat and watch and jewelry profits slipped in the first half of the year for luxury goods conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. Revenue in the company’s Watches & Jewelry business group fell from $1.74 billion to $1.78 billion, a reported decline of 3 percent. Profit from recurring operations was down 2 percent for the group. The earnings release issued by LVMH recently indicates that the luxury goods conglomerate plans to reduce wholesale distribution of its brands--a stable that includes Hublot and TAG Heuer watches as well as Bulgari jewelry--to retail stores to instead focus on its own stores.